This week, I am pleased to present my sixth interview with the vegan sociologist Roger Yates, PhD, who has been a vegan for more than four decades. Roger’s 2005 PhD dissertation focused on the social construction of speciesism. In the 1980's, he was a Press Officer for the Animal Liberation Front, and he is currently the organizing volunteer for the Vegan Information Project, a group which he co-founded in Ireland in 2013. He also has blog, social media, and YouTube channel, where he advocates for veganism and animal rights from an abolitionist perspective. I previously interviewed Roger for Episode 19, Episode 21, Episode 29, Episode 50, Episode 79, and Episode 88 of my show.

In this interview, Roger and I discuss how we can use anti-speciesist language in our advocacy and everyday lives. Roger also speaks about the challenges confronting the modern-day vegan movement, including welfarism, reducetarianism, the cooptation of the movement by right-wing activists, and the de-radicalization of advocacy groups, and he provides a sociological perspective on why some people become “ex-vegans”. He speaks about the revolutionary potential of the vegan ethic, the incompatibility of capitalism and veganism, and the insights we might glean from the McLibel trial of the 1990’s. Finally, Roger gives his advice for people who are interested in getting involved in vegan animal rights activism, emphasizing the need to challenge cultural speciesism as we work towards a vegan world.

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